Jean Stepnoski had a beautiful post this morning regarding
Tu B' Shevat.

Jean Stepnoski (7 Feb 2012)
"Tu B' Shevat, the Almond Trees/ Blossoms, and the Menorah"

The following is from Chabad.org for Tu B' Shevat, 2012, which
begins at sundown today (2/7/12) and corresponds with 2/8/12.

Tu B’Shevat
The New Year for Trees

Tu B’Shevat, the 15th of Shevat on the Jewish calendar—celebrated this year on Wednesday, February 8, 2012—is the day that marks the beginning of a “New Year for Trees.” This is the season in which the earliest-blooming trees in the Land of Israel emerge from their winter sleep and begin a new fruit-bearing cycle.

Legally, the “New Year for Trees” relates to the various tithes that are separated from produce grown in the Holy Land. These tithes differ from year to year in the seven-year shemittah cycle; the point at which a budding fruit is considered to belong to the next year of the cycle is the 15th of Shevat.

We mark the day of Tu B’Shevat by eating fruit, particularly from the kinds that are singled out by the Torah in its praise of the bounty of the Holy Land: grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives and dates. On this day we remember that “man is a tree of the field” (Deuteronomy 20:19) and reflect on the lessons we can derive from our botanical analogue.

HERE'S WHAT JUMPED OUT AT ME!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is the season in which the earliest-blooming trees in the Land of Israel emerge from their winter sleep and begin a new fruit-bearing cycle.

Is it NOW TIME for Israel to "WAKE UP"!!!?

...Psalm 44 (KJV) [interesting Ps. "44"]
...22 Yea, for thy sake are we killed all the day long;
...we are counted as sheep for the slaughter.
...23 Awake, why sleepest thou, O Lord? arise,
...cast us not off for ever.
...24 Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and forgettest
...our affliction and our oppression?

The verses below tell the story. Israel has NOT produced fruit ( Isaiah 26:18: “we gave birth to wind” ) acceptable to God because they ( “corporately, at a nation” ) did NOT accept the Messiah Whom God sent them. Yes, they are about to suffer but they WILL BE LEFT STANDING at the end. God is about to judge the nations. We MUST leave!!!

Isaiah 26
16 LORD, they came to you in their distress;
when you disciplined them,
they could barely whisper a prayer.
17 As a pregnant woman about to give birth
writhes and cries out in her pain,
so were we in your presence, LORD.
18 We were with child, we writhed in labor,
but we gave birth to wind.
We have not brought salvation to the earth,
and the people of the world have not come to life.
19 But your dead will live, LORD;
their bodies will rise—
let those who dwell in the dust
wake up and shout for joy—
your dew is like the dew of the morning;
the earth will give birth to her dead.
20 Go, my people, ENTER YOUR ROOMS
and shut the doors behind you;
HIDE YOURSELVES FOR A LITTLE WHILE
UNTIL HIS WRATH HAS PASSED BY.
21 See, the LORD is coming out of his dwelling
to punish the people of the earth for their sins.
The earth will disclose the blood shed on it;
the earth will conceal its slain no longer.

Of course, there's also.........

Daniel 12 (KJV)
1 And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.
2 And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
3 And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.